The standoff — which included this heated exchange between Councilman Dominick Calsolaro and fire union President Andrew Hirsch — ended when Jennings emerged from City Hall, embraced Hirsch and announced a new plan to firehire five new firefighters.

The picket once again proved that the Albany Permanent Professional Firefighter’s Association is a force in city politics. The union has long been a strong supporter of Jennings — a fact at least one protester reminded Jennings of when he came out to address them yesterday. (The picketer yelled something to the effect of: “That’s why we endorsed you first, Jerry!”

What’s interesting beyond the question of whether hiring five new firefighters will solve the overtime problem is that the response from the fire union was just as blistering as several council members predicted it would be.

Some lawmakers on the all-Democrat council, Commisso has said, don’t have the stomach for the blowback from the unions.

Jennings also prides himself as union friendly, so the fierce picket outside his office Monday — even if it was directed largely at the Common Council — couldn’t have been comfortable, even though he seemed to relish the role of hero. (See video below)

Things got even stranger when some of the Occupy Albany protesters wandered across Eagle Street to Academy Park to join the union’s picket.

Another potential byproduct of the deal, if the council approves it, is that it could spare Jennings from the awkward situation of having to veto parts of a council budget intended to fund the anti-violence program SNUG.

If Jennings were to veto the overtime cuts, he would have also in effect have been striking down money the council intended to refund SNUG, a program Jennings has publicly supported.

So, now the burden is again on the council. At least some members want to see hard numbers from Jennings’ office showing that $300,000 is enough to pay five firefighters. (Jennings’ office told me late Monday that its numbers show a first-year firefighter costs about $60,000.)

Commisso and others made the point that they’re only first-year firefighters for one year and become significantly more expensive after that.